Unschooling Conversations

The teenage years are undoubtedly a whole new phase even for unschooling parents. We come equipped with unschooling principles but they take on a whole new meaning as your young people naturally develop, grow, and change in new ways.

Heidi Steel is joined in this episode by Esther Jones from 

Esther Jones | Mindful parenting and learning beyond school to explore unschooling through the teenage years. We share the importance of trusting teenagers' agency and allowing them to take ownership of their learning and future choices. We compare our experiences with guiding teenage children towards independence and self-discovery, while also respecting their limits and autonomy. We discuss the importance of flexibility and adaptability in navigating these paths, and highlight the need to support teenagers in pursuing their interests and passions in ways that they choose and are suitable for them.

2.30 Expectations for unschooling in the teen years

6.30 When your teen meets the wider world and outside expectations.

7.35 Moving naturally towards independence

10.30 Experiencing college as an unschooler

13.01 Different routes and learning pathways

19.04 How can we support our teens who are studying GCSE’s at home

21:40 Always about relationship and open communication

24.00 The challenges that parents of unschooled teens face

28.30 Finding one’s true path in life

In this insightful episode, Heidi Steel sits down with conscious parenting and living coach Sarah Parkes to explore the transformative power of conscious parenting.

Sarah shares how the foundations of unconditional love, radical acceptance, and emotional regulation can profoundly impact families. They discuss the practical ways conscious parenting looks in daily life, including allowing big emotions to run their course and repairing relationships after past mistakes.

Sarah emphasizes that it's never too late to make positive changes, even for parents who feel they've damaged their connection with their children.

The conversation also delves into the pressure many parents feel to be "perfect" and how embracing our own humanity models important lessons for our kids.

Sarah and Heidi share powerful stories of children's wisdom and the healing that can occur when we approach parenting with self-compassion.

Whether you're new to conscious parenting or seeking to deepen your practice, this episode is filled with invaluable insights that can transform your family dynamics. Tune in to discover how you can cultivate the strong, connected relationships you desire with your children.

Here are the key highlights from the conversation with Sarah Parkes and where they can be found:

Are you worried about your child’s mental health and feel

Unschooling allows for you to prioritise your child’s mental

This episode of Unschooling Conversations introduces you to the work of NLP4Kids as I interview the lovely, and knowledgeable NLP4Kids practitioner, Naomi Emison. She shares with us the work that she undertakes with families and insights on NLP techniques for improving mental health in children and families.

She demonstrates how unconscious thought patterns can be effective and non effective in your child’s day to day life and how, working in partnership with parents and children, these thought patterns can be changed.

You’ll have to listen in to experience the magic for

Skip to the good part:

Naomi introduces herself and her work as an NLP for kids’ practitioner. (01:30)

Unconscious and conscious mind, and decision-making. (07:32)

- Naomi explains the difference between conscious and unconscious mind, highlighting their roles in decision-making and problem-solving.

Identify problem areas, set goals, and reframe

How unschooling aligns with supporting children's

Naomi discusses workshops for parents to improve communication with children. (22:37)

- Focusing on communication, connection, and positive parenting in workshops.

Using anchoring technique to manage emotions in children. (27:57)

- Naomi explains a technique called anchoring to help children manage anxiety by associating a positive

Guest Contact details:

Website

Email

Facebook

Guest Information:

I am an NLP4Kids Practitioner offering therapy and personal development tools and techniques to help children, young people, parents and families to

My favourite moment when working with children and young people is when they overcome a challenge (

I love working with and seeing children, teenagers and families flourish. I have taught all year groups from Reception to year 6. I have first -hand experience of working with children at different developmental stages and have worked alongside many children and families to build confidence both socially and academically and help them take the next positive in managing feelings, behaviours and relationships. I have been a member of the school senior management as Deputy Headteacher, KS1

I currently work part time as safeguarding officer and a personal tutor. My volunteer work has been in a Church context as a children’s worker, youth worker and pastoral group leader. In all of these areas of work, I have travelled alongside people of all ages and listened with care to worries and concerns and worked together on

Welcome to the first in a new series of episodes The Voices of Unschooling.

We know that unschooling looks different in every family and that there is no curriculum, manual or blueprint for what unschooling looks like. Unschooling families are drawn together by their ideas on how learning happens and their focus on building and establishing a family culture based on shared principles. This series is a way of showcasing how those ideas are put into practice in unschooling homes and what unschooling can look like on any given day.

The Voices of Unschooling episodes are an invitation to

If you feel able and willing to contribute your lived

Skip to the good part:

130 how Martha came to Home Education

830 how Martha first discovered unschooling and what she thought of it.

1100 The changes that unschooling made for Martha’s child

1430 Deschooling and managing burn out

1900 Initial expectations and the reality  

2200 The difficulty with unschooling.

2500 The joy of the membership

How essential is SALT and when should we seek their help?

Many families leave the school system behind often wondering which elements of support they still need as they begin unschooling. With concepts such as 'being behind' (which your child is not) and 'early intervention' (which causes its own problems with neurodivergent children) it can be hard to know what to do for the best and when.

As a Speech and Language Therapist and an unschooling parent Kate Appleby sits beautifully at the intersection between one of the busiest services in early education. Her insight, wisdom, and warmth will calm your soul and clear the muddy waters for you and all in half an hour!!

Plus you can skip to the good part:

400 Introduction to SALT and their role.

600 Is there a need for SALT in an unschooling home and when should parents consider a self-referral?

1000 Key indicators that a referral should be considered.

1300 Developing and establishing communication between a child and their parent or main caregiver.

1500 Communicating with their friends and close family members.

1700 How to approach SALT with neurodivergent and PDA children aka is it possible to wait until they are older/ ready?

2400 How parents impact the child and how they view themselves

2500 What are they key elements of a child centred approach to therapy?

Screen Addiction: How to Support Your Teen's Healthy Relationship with Technology

Tea and Guest Episodes are on 'Early Release' to LivePlayLearn Monthly members. You can find out more and join at https://ko-fi.com/liveplaylearn/tiers

In this episode Dr Naomi Fisher and Heidi Steel discuss the complexities of Screen Addiction.

So, pop the kettle on, grab a cup of tea, and listen in.

We jump straight in with answering the question that we all need the answer to: 

How can we tell if our child is addicted to screens?

But you won’t find any gaming shaming here. 

Listen to the whole conversation if you can, or jump to the part that peeks your interest:

1:00 The signs of screen addiction

9:00 Why do teenagers engage in online gaming with such ferocity?

11:00 Social Media and red flags of negative engagement.

15:00 What to expect and the process of lifting restrictions around screen use, including the myth of self regulation.

29:00 Four Signs that technology use is problematic

32:00 What happens when things go wrong?

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Lainie Liberti joins Heidi Steel this month, to talk about her journey into radical unschooling and her recent book Seen, Heard and Understood.

As a result of the 2008 California economy crash, Liberti closed her Los Angeles based branding agency. Liberti and her then 9-year-old Miro decided to “be the change” instead of victims and chose a life of adventure. After, selling all of their possessions, Lainie and her son hit the road for what was to be a one year adventure in 2009. After thirteen years and almost 50 countries, the pair calls Guanajuato, Mexico their home.

Lainie published the Amazon best-selling book Seen, Heard & Understood, Parenting and Partnering with Teens for Greater Mental Health in May, 2022. Lainie Liberti is the founder and creator of Transformative Mentoring for Teens that launched in early 2020 offering virtual 1:1 coaching for teens as well as a 12-week course designed to transform lives. Lainie is a certified life coach, specializing in transformational coaching.

We discuss:

· The cult of busy-ness

· The importance of core values within our homes.

· What partnership parenting means to us both and the AHA! moments that led us to find a more peaceful and connected way to be with our children.

· The art of learning as a by-product of a vibrant, connected life.

· The importance of continued support through the adolescent years.

· What we as parents can do to continue living in respectful and collaborative families with our teens.

· What makes the teen years so extraordinary and the benefits of consciously seeing, hearing and understanding your teens during this time.

· And, of course, the all-important tips for parenting through the teen years.

GUEST MEDIA LINKS:

https://transformativementoringforteens.com/

and my personal facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ilainie/

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Tamsyn Fortune-Wood joins Heidi Steel this month, to talk about her experiences as an unschooled person.

We discuss:

· Making the decision to Home Educate her own children and ditching those school registration forms in the bin 3:00

· What are the most common questions that Tamsyn is asked when people find out that she was home educated 7:00

· A listener question is answered: What did learning look like for you, including how it changed as you grew up? 9:40

· The experience of structured work and taking exams after being autonomously educated 12:30

· Reflections on interests and life in the former years and any correlations between her life choices now 14:00

· A listener question is answered: How do you feel about the choices your parents made for you? 16:30

· Considering what life would have been like had school been part of childhood 18:00

· How we both respond to our children if/when they are curious about school 20:00

· What Tamsyn thinks she may do differently with her own children 30:00

· A listener question is answered: What are your relationships like between you and your siblings? 33:10

· How home education has influenced and formed a world view 35:00

· What parents really need to know about home education and unschooling 37:30

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Summer Jean Campbell joins Heidi Steel this month, to talk about her experiences as an unschooled person

We discuss:

Introducing Summer Jean Campell and welcome to the podcast

How Summer spends her days as a grown unschooler 2:00

Reflections on how life would have been different had Summer been in school 4:00

The value of exploring your own pursuits and in your own way 8:00

Seeing the development of skills and knowledge with hindsight 10:00

How to maintain connection and magic of learning 14:00

A personal insight into family relationships past and present 22:00

Discussing extended family dynamics including managing fear and pressure from outside immediate family 27:00

Deschooling ourselves and the journey of self discovery 35:00

The worthless idea of measuring children’s learning and quantifying knowledge 44:00

Tricky subjects of trust and freedom 47:00

How to unschool 55:00

GUEST MEDIA LINKS:

Summer Jean Campbell

LIVEPLAYLEARN LINKS:

Website Liveplaylearn.org

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SUPPORT THE PODCAST ON Ko-fi:

https://ko-fi.com/liveplaylearn

Alice Khamisia joins Heidi Steel this month, to talk about Creating Community

We discuss:

· How to begin finding the community that you need and the snowball effect 3:00

· The necessity of finding the right community for encouragement and support 10:00

· Dealing with discouragement, the reality of not having a ready made group given to us, and the effort required from us 12:00

· Our success stories and positive experiences of finding learning communities 13:00

· Genuine relationship building that is enriching 14:00

· Unexpected and unpredictable successes, regular connections and forging relationships 20:00

· Claiming spaces and utilising local hubs and venues 24:00

· The sub-culture that unschooling is and how to find other like-minded families 25:00

· Changing with the seasons of your child’s life and our proactive role 26:00

· Building community 30:00

· Sharing the weight of responsibility, our human need to be in a regular community, sharing time, expertise, knowledge and skills, as well as care for each other 41:00

GUEST MEDIA LINKS:

Organic Education

LIVEPLAYLEARN LINKS:

Website Liveplaylearn.org

Facebook Live. Play. Learn

YouTube Live Play Learn